How much compensation for a delayed KLM flight?
£220 each, if you land 3 hours or more late
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KLM is about average for the 80 airlines flying at UK airports for 3-hour delays.
- Flights a year
- 34,017
- Landed on time
- 70.4%
- Land 3 hrs or more late
- 136a year
Last 12 months, CAA data
What you're owed
Every KLM route we hold a distance for falls in the same band, so that is the figure. About 136 KLM flights a year cross that line.
What it pays
Pick the airport you flew from
KLM flies from 13 UK airports, so there is no single distance and no single figure. Open the one you flew from and every destination is priced.
Busiest 8 shown. KLM flies from 5 more UK airports, all listed further down this page.
Watch my flight
Flying soon? We'll watch your flight
If it lands 3 hours or more late we email you what you're owed.
How bad is it
Does KLM get delayed a lot?
Not especially. It's about average for the 80 airlines flying at UK airports, with about 1 flight in 250 landing 3 or more hours late (0.4%).
That works out at about 136 flights a year crossing the 3-hour line, which is the point the airline has to pay.
When is it worst?
January 2026, when KLM flights ran an average of 27.3 minutes late.
See all the numbers for KLM
In the last 12 months, KLM operated 34,017 flights at UK airports, and 0.4% were 3 or more hours late, the threshold where £220 each becomes payable.
Flights are landing on time less often than last year: 70.4% ran on time against 70.9% in the twelve months before, and the average delay rose from 14.6 to 14.8 minutes.
| KLM, last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights at UK airports | 34,017 | was 35,535 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 70.4% | ▼ was 70.9% |
| Average delay | 14.8 min | ▲ was 14.6 min |
| 3 hours or more late (the line where they pay) | 0.4% | - |
| Cancelled | 3.7% | - |
| Flights 3 hours or more late (a year) | 136 flights/year | - |
The CAA's figures combine arrivals and departures, so this covers both directions of travel.
KLM's delays, month by month
Worst month: January 2026, averaging 27.3 minutes.
Where it flies
KLM at each UK airport
| Airport | Flights | Avg delay | 3 hours or more late | Landed on time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 5,339 | 12.3 min | 0.3% | 75.8% |
| London City | 4,230 | 11 min | 0.1% | 75.2% |
| Manchester | 4,009 | 18.5 min | 0.4% | 61.1% |
| Birmingham | 3,263 | 16.6 min | 0.5% | 68.4% |
| Newcastle | 3,213 | 16.2 min | 0.7% | 69.9% |
| Edinburgh | 3,060 | 14.5 min | 0.4% | 70.9% |
| Bristol | 2,619 | 20.9 min | 0.9% | 63.3% |
| Leeds Bradford | 2,174 | 14.9 min | 0.3% | 70.4% |
| Glasgow | 1,794 | 15.1 min | 0.5% | 69.8% |
| Teesside International Airport | 1,619 | 13.5 min | 0.5% | 76.9% |
| Cardiff Wales | 1,391 | 13.8 min | 0.4% | 73.0% |
| Exeter | 683 | 9.9 min | <0.5% | 77.5% |
| Aberdeen | 590 | 9.4 min | <0.5% | 65.8% |
From our own tracking
Recent KLM flights we logged running late
Every KLM arrival we logged running 3 or more hours late, or cancelled, at the airports we sweep since August. Newest first, and only flights UK or EU rules cover. A cancelled row carries no figure because what it pays turns on the notice you were given. Amounts are per person on the booking (half on the longest flights that landed 3 to 4 hours late). Airlines can still dispute a claim by proving the cause was outside their control, so check yours for the real answer.
KLM
Amsterdam → Aberdeen International Airport
7 Oct · 08:40
KLM
Amsterdam → John F. Kennedy International Airport
7 Oct · 17:05
KLM
Amsterdam → Aberdeen International Airport
5 Oct · 08:40
KLM
Amsterdam → Newcastle International Airport
3 Oct · 22:55
Yours in the list? Check it free and we'll tell you what the airline owes you.
How to claim
Claiming from KLM
Airlines rarely pay compensation on their own. Nothing happens until someone claims, and plenty of first claims come back refused when the airline blames something outside its control.
The rules do not change with the airline. What decides your claim is where the flight took off and how late it landed, not whose aircraft it was.
Your rights
What the rules turn on
Where the flight departed decides everything, not the airline's nationality. Anything leaving a UK airport is covered by UK261 whoever operates it, and anything leaving the EU by EU261. A delay of 3 or more hours on arrival pays £220 each on the distances KLM flies, when the cause was within the airline's control, which covers technical faults, crew shortages and the knock-on from a late inbound aircraft. It pays nothing when the cause was genuinely extraordinary, though airlines stretch that word further than the case law supports, so a refusal on those grounds is worth testing rather than accepting.
Other airlines
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority punctuality statistics, July 2025 to June 2026. Analysis by CheckFlightCompensation; the CAA is credited as the data source as its publication conditions require. Figures cover the 25 largest UK airports. Methodology and limitations.